TOWN might have ended up on the wrong end of a comprehensive 5-2 defeat at Silsden’s Cobbydale Construction Stadium on Tuesday night, but they gave their Championship-chasing hosts a mighty big fright along the way.

The first half was pretty much all one-way traffic as St. Helens struggled to get out of their own half and they were quite fortunate to trail by only two goals at the interval.

Mateusz Tomas opened the scoring for Silsden with a crisp finish from the corner of the Town box in the seventh minute and Chris Wademan had stretched the lead with a 28th minute penalty. Profligate finishing by the home side, together with two excellent saves by Carl Williams and a goal-line clearance by Andy Webster conspired to keep the half-time score down to just 2-0.

Hardly had the second-half begun when a Williams blunder let in Wademan for a simple third and it looked like being a long, wet night for St. Helens. However, a couple of inspired substitutions from manager Lee Jenkinson shook up the game, Danny Lomax and Jake Young being replaced by Tom Grimshaw and Tom Potter. The game sprung into life and, from nowhere, Town secured a first corner.

From the set piece, Andy Presho lofted an overhead kick which fooled Jakovlevs and ended up in the home net on 64 minutes and a few minutes later, a long pass found Liam Diggle who, full of confidence on the break, took on the keeper and slammed the ball gleefully into the net. Town were back in the game and Silsden’s backs were on the ropes.

Order was restored with 13 minutes remaining when substitute Niall Sultan netted Silsden’s fourth and Town were pressing to narrow the gap in the last minute when the home side intercepted a loose ball, man-of-the-match Aidan Kirby rounded two defenders and rode a couple of heavy challenges to finish well past Williams and put a rather undeserved gloss on the win, with the final goal in a 5-2 home triumph which did not really reflect the effort St. Helens had put into the match overall.

SATURDAY saw Town go down to second-placed Litherland for the third time this season and, once again the final score of 4-1 did not reflect the effort Town put into this game.

In complete contrast to the 5-2 defeat at Silsden, St Helens began the match in great style and opened the scoring in the fifth minute in expansive style, a wide ball from the left finding Grimshaw, who lashed the ball home under the despairing dive of Remy keeper Ben Morrow.

It only took Litherland four minutes to level the scores, Williams did well to block a fierce shot from former Town midfielder Colin Quirk, but he was unable to prevent Colin McDonald from turning in the rebound.

Remy had the ball in the net again minutes later, but referee Sheppard ruled that Williams had been impeded by McDonald in the build-up. At the other end, Danny Greene hit a great shot, only to find Morrow right behind the ball but, minutes later, Town might have regained the lead in a move similar to their goal, this time a quick Greene cross found Diggle, who headed past Morrow, but was controversially ruled offside.

Seven minutes before half-time, McDonald put Litherland into the lead with the easiest of finishes after the diminutive Josh Hamilton, head and shoulders above everybody else on the field in terms of pace, class and ability, took on two defenders and the goalie to serve the ball up on a plate for the centre-forward.

St. Helens barely had a look-in in the second-half, as the visitors upped their game, showing why they are virtual certainties for promotion. Diggle had the only real chance for Town, Morrow pulling off a good save, whereas Remy added further goals through Hamilton after 57 minutes and a last-minute penalty from Quirk, which took the final victory margin to three goals, adding insult to injury, as this did not reflect Town’s overall contribution to a good match.

Town are next in action on Saturday, when they make their first-ever visit to league new boys Abbey Hulton United, who play in Stoke.

They were the first visitors to the new Ruskin Drive ground last August when, it will be remembered, the floodlights went out on the timer switch with the score at

0-0 before the visitors had chance to take their last-minute penalty kick. The league management committee later ruled that the result should stand.